Renewal and choice

• New Age - from obligation to consumption (Davie)


  
  

  • Religion is no longer imposed, now it's personal choice
  • Infant baptism was once obligatory, now only a minority do it
• New Age - believing without belonging (Davie)


  
  

  • Religion is now more private
  • People hold religious beliefs, but don't attend church
  • Counter - British Social Attitudes Survey found that people don't believe in Heaven or Hell, disproving private religion
• New Age - vicarious religion (Davie)


  
  

  • A small number of clergy practice religion on behalf of a larger population
  • Spiritual health service - compares religion in Europe to the NHS, a free service for everyone, that is there whenever you need it
  • Counter - Bruce says decline in church attendance is a sign of declining strength of belief
• New Age - spiritual shopping (Hervieu-Leger)


  
  

  • Decline in substantive religion is a result of cultural amnesia
  • Parents don't teach their kids about religion as they want them to decide on it themselves
  • Leads to people picking and choosing which aspects or religion they follow
• New Age - results of spiritual shopping (Hervieu-Leger)


  
  

  • Emergence of Pilgrims - people who finds self-discovery through exploring a religion that interests them
  • Emergence of Converts - people who join religious groups, often based on shared background, like ethnicity
• New Age - postmodernism and globalisation

  
  

  • The growing interconnectedness of the world has made researching other cultures and religions easier
  • Religion has become disembodied from society as the media has lifted the physicality away from beliefs
  • Religion spreads through the globalisation process of media messaging
• New Age - Postmodern religion online (Helland)


  
  

  • Religious orgs using the internet to address members and potential converts
  • No feedback or dialogue between parties
  • Essentially an electronic version of a traditional, hierarchal church
  • Counter - Hoover says it's supplementing not substituting
• New Age - Postmodern online religion (Helland)


  
  

  • Forms of cyber religion that have no existence outside of the internet
  • More community based, rather than hierarchal
  • Counter - Hoover says it's supplementing not substituting
• New Age - consumerism (Lyon)


  • Religion has relocated to the sphere of consumption
  • People haven't abandoned religion but instead make conscious choices about which elements of religion they find useful
  • Counter - Lyon counters themselves and says it's only traditional religion declining and new religions are springing up
• New Age - reenchantment (Lyon)


  • Criticises secularisation theory for assuming that religion is declining and being replaced by a rational worldview
  • Argues that we are now in a period of reenachantment, with the growth of unconventional beliefs, practices and spiritually
  • Highlights the growing vitality of non traditional religion in the West
• New Age - spiritual revolution (Heela and Woodhead)


  • Traditional Christianity is giving way to 'holistic spirituality' or New Age spiritual beliefs that emphasises personal development
  • Study in Kendal found reasons for this:
  • Shift away from doing your duty for an external authority
  • Means that traditional religion declines
  • Evangelical churches have become more popular than traditional ones due to their focus on personal growth
• New Age counter - scale (Bruce)


  • In 1851 Kendal, 38% of the population went to church
  • To match that today there would have to be 14,500 churchgoers
  • Today there is only 3,000 churchgoers and 270 New Age followers
  • Therefore New Age religion isn't replacing traditional as it isn't matching the stats
• New Age counter - socialisation (Bruce)


  • In Kendal, only 32% of New Age parents said their kids follow the same beliefs
  • New Age women are less likely to have children
  • 3/4 of marriages with a New Age wife, the husband does not share the same views
• New Age counter - weak commitment (Bruce)


  • Among those who described themselves as 'spiritual', very few said that practices were important parts of their lives
  • Most people in every demographic category show no interest in alternative spirituality
• New Age counter - structural weakness (Bruce)


  • Lacks external power to extract commitment
  • Lacks cohesion as its followers are free to belief whatever they want
  • Cannot persuade others of the truth because it believes enlightenment comes from within
• Religious market theory - overview (Stark and Bainbridge)


  • Thinks secularisation only focuses on the fall in Europe and ignores the growth in America
  • Argue there was never a 'golden age' and there will never be a future end-point for religion
  • People are naturally religious, making demand constant
  • It is human nature to seek rewards and avoid costs, religion provides this
  • Counter - Beckford says it's unsociological for assuming all society is naturally religious
• Religious market theory - compensators (Stark and Bainbridge)


  • Cycle of renewal - when traditional religions decline, they leave a gap in the market for new religions to grow, making demand constant
  • Competition - churches operate like companies selling goods, more diversity only pushes religions to advocate why their one is better than the rest, increasing interest and followers
• Religious market theory - USA vs EU (Stark and Bainbridge)


  • Religion thrives in the US as there has never been a religious monopoly
  • The constitution grants freedom of speech, allowing for healthy diversity of religions
  • Most EU countries have been dominated by an official state church, meaning competition has been held back and the lack of choice has led to a decline
  • Counter - Bruce says there's statistics showing decline in both
• Religious market theory - supply led religion (Stark and Bainbridge)


  • Religion is greatly influenced by the quality and variety of what's on offer and the extent to which it responds to people's needs
  • Hadden and Shupe - use televangelism to evidence it, as the commercial funding of religious broadcasts opened
• Secularisation and security - existential security theory (Norris and Inglehart)


  • The feeling that survival is secure enough that it can be taken for granted
  • Poor society have strong religion because they face life threatening risks like famine and disease
  • Rich society doesn't have strong religion as they do not have to face daily challenges
• Secularisation and security - Eu vs USA (Norris and Inglehart)


  • Secularisation happens in the west because it is safer and wealthier than the rest of the world
  • However, secularisation isn't happening in America because they still have to fight against hardships like paid healthcare and an inadequate welfare system
• Secularisation and security - state welfare (Gill and Lundegaarde)


  • The more a country spends on welfare, the lower the levels of religious participation
  • Past religions used to be the providers of welfare, now the state fulfils that role
  • This still won't reduce the need for religion entirely, as welfare doesn't answer questions like the meaning of life
• Secularisation and security - criticisms (Vasquez)


  • They only use quantitative date about income levels and don't examine people's own definitions of existential security
  • They only see religion as a negative response to deprivation and ignore positives it can have for both WC and MC